1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in pipe cleaning apparatus and more particularly, but not by way of limitation to an apparatus for cleaning the inner periphery of a pipe section with abrasive materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is frequently necessary to clean the inner periphery of pipe for many reasons, such as to remove scale, rust, paint, or the like, accumulated within the pipeline during extended periods of storage. Considering the fact that most pipe sections are relatively long, it is extremely difficult to clean the interior walls thereof. There are many devices available today for moving longitudinally through the interior of pipe for ejecting abrasive materials radially outwardly for impinging thereof against the inner periphery of the pipe to "sand blast" the walls thereof. These devices have many disadvantages, however, in that the grit or abrasive materials used in the devices usually contacts the inner periphery of the pipe and is deflected back against the outer periphery of the jets or nozzles or other portions of the cleaning apparatus used in the blasting operation, and quickly wears away the device itself. In order to overcome this particular disadvantage, a rotating head as shown in my co-pending application Ser. No. 815,906, filed July 15, 1977, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,948 and entitled "Internal Pipeline Cleaning Device" was developed which directs the grit or abrasive materials against the inner periphery of the pipe in such a manner that the deflecting particles are directed away from the cleaning device itself, thus greatly increasing the overall cleaning efficiency and increasing the useful live of the device. This apparatus, however, has certain disadvantages in that the abrasive materials may leak from the distribution passageways which direct the materials to the head, thus resulting in a damage of the sealing elements of the apparatus.